Autism tolerance call after café incident

A CONCERNED mother has called for more tolerance and education about autism after a recent experience she had in a café.

Glenis Rhead, of Ruskin Road, Worthing, had taken her autistic four-year-old son, George, out for a drink at Wrights Café, in Warwick Street, when he became agitated.

In Glenis’ own words, George suffered a “meltdown” and started screaming, which prompted the café’s owner to ask her to “control him”, during the incident on Saturday, January 19.

Glenis claims the owner asked her to leave – an allegation he has strenuously denied.

As a result of his condition, Glenis says it is hard to calm George down and the best way to handle the situation would have been to sit him down with a drink. She said: “People with autism are unpredictable and they can go into a meltdown at any time. I’m concerned and want to educate people about autism. If I had grabbed him it would have made it worse.”

Speaking to the Herald this week, Mr Terretta denied asking Glenis to leave and said the event was “completely blown out of proportion”.

For the full story, see the Worthing Herald, out Thursday, January 31.